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Hi Infatuation reader. As you know, many cities around the world have limited restaurants and bars to takeout and delivery, and others are in the process of reopening. We’re continuing to update our site with the latest information about restaurant reopenings, guides to getting something great to eat at home, and community resources to help support the restaurant industry. Stay tuned, and stay well.

Feature:

19 Organizations Helping Essential Workers In NYC

Maybe you recently inherited $1,200 and you’d like to pay it forward, or maybe you want to support people on the frontlines, but you’re finding it hard to parse through all the charitable initiatives. We put together this list in hopes of making it as easy as possible to help restaurant and healthcare workers in any way you can. From donating meals to medical staff to buying a cookbook that provides cash assistance to restaurant employees who lost their jobs, here are 19 ways to support your fellow New Yorkers right now.

We’ll be updating the list as we learn about more organizations helping essential workers. If you have any tips, you can email newsletter@theinfatuation.com. And for additional resources on how NYC restaurants are giving back to their communities, and Infatuation-hosted fundraising projects, visit our page here.

organizations helping restaurant workers in nyc

The Independent Restaurant Coalition is a newly-formed group of industry leaders that’s advocating for independently-owned restaurants across the country (including many of our favorites here in NYC). They’re pushing for congress to establish the Independent Restaurant Stabilization Fund of at least $120 billion, which would allow independent restaurants to reopen and stay open, and save millions of jobs. You can see more information about the campaign and send a pre-written email to your local NYC representatives on their website here. And, if you want to amplify their mission on social media, use the hashtags #saverestaurants and #toosmalltofail.

Think about all the times a server has been friendly to you despite the dangling strand of onion stuck in your teeth. Or all the line cooks who deveined your shrimp. A lot of those folks need cash assistance right now, and ROAR and The Robin Hood Foundation have teamed up to help them get it (and you can help too). Another way to support ROAR and The Robin Hood Foundation is to buy Serving New York, a new cookbook with 45 recipes from restaurants like Cote, Charlie Bird, Gramercy Tavern, West-Bourne, and Olmsted. You can pre-order a copy here.

World Central Kitchen is a non-profit organization that helps provide meals to individuals in need in the wake of disasters. Their COVID-19-focused relief effort, #ChefsForAmerica, is addressing this crisis with a three-pronged approach: mapping feeding efforts to understand where gaps in aid exist while showing people where they can find assistance for themselves, delivering meals to those in need, and starting community kitchens where families can get access to affordable or free meals. If you want to see the work they’re doing in NYC and NJ specifically, check out their page here.

If you want to support restaurant workers while Eric Ripert teaches you to make mushroom bolognese, let us introduce you to a new cookbook from Penguin Random House called Family Meal. All the proceeds benefit the Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation (RWCF), and you can learn more about the recipe contributors and how to download here.

The NY chapter of Off Their Plate is collecting funds to enable restaurants to make and deliver meals to healthcare staff around the city, all while keeping local restaurant workers employed. Find out more about the work they’re doing and how to donate here.

Merch Aid has been selling t-shirt and print collaborations between designers and New York restaurants you love, with all the profits directly benefiting the small businesses involved. They drop a new one almost every day around 5pm, like this La Morada t-shirt.You can learn more about the project on their website and keep track of their daily drops on their Instagram.

Every week, Help Our Neighborhood Restaurants (HONoR) is highlighting different independently-owned NYC spots across all five boroughs that are offering takeout and delivery. With every HONoR order, you’ll be supporting a small business directly, and Beyond Meat will donate a burger to the Food Bank For New York City.

A lot of your favorite neighborhood spots have set up GoFundMe campaigns to provide financial assistance to their employees. If you want to see all of these pages in one place, Bailout.nyc has an extensive list.

Normally, FoodtoEat partners with immigrants, women, and minority-owned restaurants in NYC to book catering gigs at corporate offices. Since corporate offices aren’t a thing right now, FoodtoEat is now raising money to help those same restaurants feed frontline workers in hospitals and nursing homes. You can check out their progress on their GoFundMe page here.

To raise money for NYC restaurants, Family Meal has designed a handful of chic recipes from places like Mina’s, Win Son, and Lighthouse. You can donate directly to each restaurant’s GoFundMe or Venmo, then download the recipe art, which you can use for your next cooking project or simply frame it for your bedroom wall. Check out the recipes and learn more here.

organizations helping healthcare workers in nyc

Fuel The Fight NYC is raising money to cater meals from local restaurants to feed healthcare workers. You can see their full delivery schedule here. (Their first ones were from Lil Frankies and The Meatball Shop, and went to Lenox Health and NYP Weill Cornell).

Food pantry and homeless shelter Hungry Monk Rescue Truck in Ridgewood has pivoted their focus to delivering food and supplies to churches, pantries, shelters, and healthcare centers in the parts of Queens and the Bronx that have been hit the hardest by the virus. To find out more about their daily work and how to contribute, check out their website.

In addition to putting together takeout and delivery meal kits, Perfect Picnic is giving free lunches to local hospitals and crisis response centers. You can learn more about donating $10 meals on their website.

Pizza Vs Pandemic is also collecting donations to support small businesses and feed hospital employees. Your donation will be used to fund pizza deliveries to healthcare workers in the area.

Invisible Hands is a local organization that may not help essential workers specifically, but it connects volunteers with vulnerable New Yorkers in order to get groceries delivered to their homes. If you’re healthy, antsy to get out of your apartment, and want to help out some fellow New Yorkers, you can learn more about how to get involved or contribute here.

Our friends at Bucket Listers have been donating meals to NYC healthcare workers on the frontlines (all while supporting local restaurants). You can find out more about their campaign and donate here.

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